Despite the obvious difficulties, there’s one woman from Guna village in Lamgara block of Almora, who has turned her farm into a veritable hub of biodiversity. 

The women in Sunderbans are now participating in group discussions with villagers on matters of social, financial and environmental significance, writes Ajitha Menon.

Of course, the ground reality is that there are still gaps in women’s participation in the VPs and at the core of this is a lack of awareness about the rules as well as policy inadequacies. In a bid to analyse government policies that can help communities, and especially women, adapt to climate change, Alternative Futures (AF), a New Delhi-based development, research and communication group, has collaborated with CHEA. 

Of course, though the integrated farming is bringing food security, economic upliftand increased protection against climate change, it's largely the women who are working themselves to the bone', says, Debabrata Guchhait, 32, a Village Development Volunteer with the Development Research Communication and Service Centre (DRCSC). "They work tirelessly from 5.30 am to 10 pm doing household work, caring for children and then toiling on their farm."

Even though women form an integral part of climate change adaptation strategies, often entailing longer working hours for them in different ways, it is ironic that neither the National Action Plan on Climate Change nor any of the State Action Plans take this into account.